Mailbag Column for Smmenen

[Smmenen]

My next article is part one of my Grim Long manual.

However, after that, I was going to do a mailbag column.

Ask me anything magic related and i'll do my best to answer.  It can be metagame, strategy questions, or anything.

[cssamerican]

What is your opinion of the Canadian decks Dragon and Bomberman, and why do you think they aren't as popular in the American metagame?

When testing (fine tunning) your decks what procedure do you do? Do you just play a bunch of games and record what happens, or do you create situations? In other words, do you set up scenarios where you have to play around a Null Rod? Do you do thing like always putting a card in your opening grip just to see how it performs in that situation? Or do you base a large portion of your decision making on intuition and logic? I am just curious as to what methods you use to decide which cards are the best ones in each slot of your deck and sideboard.

[TopSecret]

This hypothetical card is meant to be viewed only as far as its applications in Vintage,
as an unrestricted card, are concerned.

White Lotus     Cost: 0

Artifact

"Tap; Sacrifice White Lotus:
Add WWW to your mana pool.
This mana can only be spent to
play mono-white spells."


Would this card bust up the Vintage Format, or change the Metagame?
Would it create any new viable decks, or push any current ones over the top?
Would it make White Weenie undeniably viable?
Is it "unplayable", and if so, why?
Which modifications would make it more balanced?

[Metman]

Thoughts on Mana Drain being used to stop Brainstorm?  Would you ever FoW one, if you would when would it be (play scenerio). 

The reason I bring this up is because I get mixed results from playtesting.  Often when I test against Gifts (Meandeck of course) I find that Mana Draining an early Brainstorm can shut down their land drops and leave them with expensive cc cards in hand.  Have you tested something as mundane as this?

[Moxlotus]

What is your favorite archetype to play?  What is your favorite deck to play?  What is your favorite deck you've ever played?  What deck do you hate to play against the most?

[Juggernaut GO]

When is the last time you ancestral recalled an oath player after they resolved brainstorm with oath on the stack?

[Mr. Nightmare]

How important is the "team factor" in Vintage Magic?  Should a player who is entering the format be vying for a place on an established team?  How would they best go about this?

[netherspirit]

This situation recently arose, it was my opponent's first turn. Here's how it was looking:

Me
Life: 19
Hand: Force of Will, Intuition, Brainstorm, Stasis (Main part of deck, only 2 more in library), Island
In play: Tundra
Graveyard: Flooded Strand
Top cards of library: Unknown

Him
Life: 20
Hand: 5 Unknown cards
In play: Island
Graveyard: Mox Emerald (Sacrificed to Tinker)
Just played: Tinker (Most likely target: Darksteel Collossus)

What would you do in this situation?

[Kevin Folinus]

I am also interested in your opinion of Bomberman. Im beginning to wonder if the deck is alot better after watching people win making tons of mistakes. Also, is it a bad match for IT because I have lost/almost lost to much worse opponents in tournys. (Never tested the match myself.)

******How should I sideboard http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=17579 (IT) against Bomberman and Sullivan Solution. Would c. extraction be a reasonable card to use on Trinket Mage against Bomberman.*****

If you have a hand that can win on turn one if it faces 0 disruption have you found any way to test your opponent to see if he has Force. Type one players are usually easy to read so I figure it might be practical.

A. Did you have a secret Time Vault combo deck developed. B. Did you purchase a ton of them? Or both.

While playing combo sometimes if my first Ritual is countered I will fizzle but upon resolution have guaranteed win. Rarely does it ever get countered. When playing control against combo how should you evaluate what cards to counter.

What have you been toying around with from Coldsnap?

Thanks again.

P.S. I asked alot of questions so if you answer any could it be the one with the **'s. It is the most improtant to me.

[Smmenen]

I will answer every question asked so far except for this one:

This situation recently arose, it was my opponent's first turn. Here's how it was looking:

Me
Life: 19
Hand: Force of Will, Intuition, Brainstorm, Stasis (Main part of deck, only 2 more in library), Island
In play: Tundra
Graveyard: Flooded Strand
Top cards of library: Unknown

Him
Life: 20
Hand: 5 Unknown cards
In play: Island
Graveyard: Mox Emerald (Sacrificed to Tinker)
Just played: Tinker (Most likely target: Darksteel Collossus)

What would you do in this situation?

I need more information.  Could you post YOUR decklist please?  That would give me insight into your strategy.  Each tactical play needs to be tied into the long term strategy.

[TurbulentDirge]

Back in 2005, you discussed at length the deck I consider brilliant: Meandeck Tendrils.

Based on playtesting, which admittedly would not match your own, I have found this deck quite powerful. Again, I have confined my testing to MWS, and the quality of players there is not always consistent.

In your opinion, why has this deck never really won any major tournaments?
What prevents the deck from succeeding in the current metagame?
The maindeck, with the post-Ravnica block changes made, should probably be unaltered. What about the sideboard?
I know Kobefan and ostensibly you used the following
The Sideboard
4 Xantid Swarm
4 Green Fetches
1 Bayou
4 Force of Will
2 Chain of Vapor
Has this changed any? If so, has this improved the decks performance? If not, are there ways to make this deck into the unstoppable machine it should ideally be?

Thank you,
-DL

[netherspirit]

I will answer every question asked so far except for this one:

This situation recently arose, it was my opponent's first turn. Here's how it was looking:

Me
Life: 19
Hand: Force of Will, Intuition, Brainstorm, Stasis (Main part of deck, only 2 more in library), Island
In play: Tundra
Graveyard: Flooded Strand
Top cards of library: Unknown

Him
Life: 20
Hand: 5 Unknown cards
In play: Island
Graveyard: Mox Emerald (Sacrificed to Tinker)
Just played: Tinker (Most likely target: Darksteel Collossus)

What would you do in this situation?

I need more information.  Could you post YOUR decklist please?  That would give me insight into your strategy.  Each tactical play needs to be tied into the long term strategy.

Sure, here's the deck:

Lands:
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
1 Strip Mine
8 Island

Creatures:
3 Serra Angel

Other:
1 Time Spiral
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
1 Enlightened Tutor
4 Howling Mine
3 Mind Over Matter
3 Stasis
1 Black Vise
4 Brainstorm
2 Intuition
4 Mana Drain
1 Propaganda
1 Trinisphere
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Force of Will
Btw, I'm kinda in a hurry which is why I haven't broken it down any further into tutors, drawers, disruption etc. Hope that helps though.

[Smmenen]

THis is weaksauce.  A number of you asked for a mailbag column yet I get less than 10 questions?

[BreathWeapon]

You'd get a better responce if you actually advertised you were doing a Mailbag Column on Star City than just posting about it in one of the forums most people ignore on TheManaDrain.

As far as my question, what do you feel is the appropriate path for aggro control in this format? There have been so many different variations of Fish ranging from Rods, Chalices, Rods and Chalices, Chalices and Vials,full acceleration, U/W, U/B, U/B/W, U/*/R, with disruption from Daze, Duress, Stifle to Mana Leak and Rune Snag and creatures from Cutpurse, Confidant, Ninja, Erayo, Voidmage, Meddling Mage, Kataki, Mox Monkey, Lavamancer, Azorious, Stormscape, Bouncer, Javelineer and even the WTF and Bird Shit variants that there seems to be absolutely no consensus on what the best approach is in a metagame that can expect Gifts, Slaver, Oath, Long, Stax , Ichorid as well as dark horses like Salavagers, Dragon and Workshop Aggro. If you had to take a "fish" deck to Gencon what it would look like?

[Moxlotus]

I got another one.  What deck is decent/good in Type 1 that you would never consider playing.

[Kelme]

Id love to have you look into some archetypes which you rather not play, Control Slaver for instance.

Why is it a good deck? (is it a good deck?)

Does it have something to do with the players?

How would your build be?

Im quite sure with your understanding of vintage you`d give a quite insightful answer.

Thank you.
 

[nataz]

Wait, didn't you do one of these already?

w/e

- How much longer will you keep playing?

- Have you given up doing the diverse deck thing? I remember you wailing on people who played the same deck both days at SCG, yet you seem to have fallen back on grim long. Lack of time, lack of new decks, whats up?

- What kind of law do you want to practice?
Magic as it relates to your job, does anything (skills, though process, mode of speech etc.) carry over?

- How much do you get paid for premium content? Premium writers aren't allowed to divulge that -jpmeyer

- Did you know that there was going to be power level errata change before the general public? Do you think that random S-Dragon should have its power level errata removed?

- What have been the defining moments of vintage in the past 5 years? People, places, events, cards? Scale of 1-10, multiple examples.

- How much do you think the Gencon art is worth?

- Do you play poker?
How do you think poker will effect the number of people that play competitive magic? Is there a brain-drain? Do good magic players make good poker players, and viceversa?

- What is your favorite [magic] color

- Boxers, briefs, or commando

- 3 button vs. 2 button suits
Do you feel that you can dress to intimidate? You have mentioned multiple times that your in game persona isn't always pleasant, but it does give you an edge. Can style of dress influence how you play against someone/how someone plays against you?

- Repeal in gifts (as a 4-of ala brassy), yay or nay?

[Jacob Orlove]

Nataz: magic questions only.

[nataz]

opps, I didn't read the initial post, wrote from the hip, and then looked like a fool!

My bad, and my post has been edited.

*edit*-more questions

- What is your proudest moment in magic?

- What moment do you regret?

- 4-gush gat v. the current format, who wins?

- ditto on 4-fact mono-blue?

- Gifts v. Fact or Fiction, which is more powerful. Should Gifts be restricted?

- Why is merchant scroll just so damn good?

[EnialisLiadon]

What would you say the advantages and disadvantages are of being a "big name" player--someone who people recognize instantly when they're paired with you?

EDIT:  wtf @ the above decklist and its play scenario.
EDIT2:  Anything you think should be banned/restricted, other than will (both arguments have been presented--let's find a new card to hotly debate)?

Anything you think could reasonably come off the list?

What is your favorite non-vintage format?  Do you delve in to other forms of competitive magic?

[Machinus]

Three years ago you described what you considered to be ten important principles of vintage deckbuilding in an article for starcity. The last three years have seen significant changes in the format - what would that article say if it were written in the fall of 2006?

This question might be too comprehensive to include in your mailbag, as you may consider just rewriting it. Incidentally, I think it's important to emphasize the static elements of Vintage as much as the dynamic ones.

[TopSecret]

     How important do you believe the principal of 'tempo' is in Vintage?
     Is Tempo in Vintage different than in other formats?

     There are so many cards that break the normal turn pattern in the format,
or create a ridiculous amount of tempo in comparison to everything else;
Moxen, Yawgmoth's Will, Null Rod, Chalice, Trinisphere, Mana Drain, Tolarian Achademy, Force of Will...etc.
     
     Has Tempo in Vintage become based upon disrupting or abusing specific cards, like the ones above?

     What do you think is the best, and most practical, example of Tempo in Vintage?
     

[Anusien]

If Team Meandeck dissolved tomorrow, how would that affect your situation?  What would you do (asking more personal about teams instead of Team Meandeck's involvement in the greater T1 community).

Where do you see Vintage at this time next year?  What about Legacy?

Edit: How important is metagaming?  How does what turnout you expect affect what deck you play and how you tune the maindeck?

[Polynomial P]

How do you decide which deck you will play in a tournament? I assume that you are proficient at several archtypes; so do you take into account the metagame, inherient strength of the deck, deck strategy, or do you just play the deck you are most comfortable with?

Do you think that sufficient numbers of new vintage players will enter the format so that vintage can continue for the next year? Next three years?

How do you get better at playing combo? I find that goldfishing a combo deck is unfulfilling and that it is difficult to determine whether or not you played a hand correctly, especially if you fizzle after X spells or a draw seven.

[49 Cents]

Smokestacks in (5c) Staxx: The good, the bad or the ugly?

[Smmenen]

Is that it?

[orgcandman]

With all the mana acceleration, and card selection / advantage engines available in red and black (seething song, rituals, tutors, ill-gotten gains, browbeat, etc..) why hasn't an aggressive r/b combo deck emerged?

[ashiXIII]

Compare Grim Long to Pitch Long and tell why you think Pitch Long is the stronger deck.

[M.Solymossy]

You're given a hand that is:

Chain of Vapor
Misdirection
Force of Will
Brainstorm
Dark Ritual
Polluted Delta
Mox Pearl.

You're on the play, knowing you're playing against Dragon.  Do you keep, and Why? 


(I can be an ass, sometimes)

[Moxlotus]

Do you think Grim Tutor and/or Dark Ritual will be restricted.  Why or why not?  What decks will (re)emerge in the new Pitch Long heavy metagame?